Reading a framer's order form
A fictional work order, marked up line by line: what each line commits the framer to, which lines are silent, and what to write in before you sign.
A work order is a specification written in shop shorthand. Most of the decisions in this manual appear on one as two or three words, and two of them usually do not appear at all. The form below is invented, and so are the shop, the catalogue numbers and the prices. The annotations are the point.
The form
This work order, the shop, the numbers and the prices are invented. It is written in the shorthand a real counter uses, so that the words are the ones you will meet.
CORNER & LINE PICTURE FRAMING
Work order 4471 Date 14 March Customer P. Raman Ready 28 March
Item 1 of 1 Description: letterpress print, 18 x 24 sheet
Moulding: LJ 4417-26, 1" ash, natural Join: chop & join
Frame size: 23 3/4 x 30 1/4 Rabbet: 5/8
Mat 1: CR8419 "Stone", 4-ply Opening: 17 3/4 x 23 3/4 Borders: 3 / 3 / 3 1/2
Mat 2: none
Glazing: CC glass
Mount: hinge
Fitting: std
Backing:
Notes:
Customer signature: ______________________
Line by line
| What it says | What it means | What it commits the framer to | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Description | What the shop thinks the piece is | Very little, but it is the only record of what was handed over | Check the medium is right, and that the sheet size matches what you measured. If you wrote "not identified", say so here |
| Moulding, with a catalogue number | The profile, from a supplier's catalogue. The number is the specification | That exact moulding, in that width and finish. This is usually where most of the price is | Nothing, if you chose it. Ask the rabbet depth if it is not printed |
| Join: chop and join | The moulding is cut to length and joined for this order, as opposed to a length frame or a ready-made | A custom-sized frame | Nothing. It is why a custom frame costs what it does |
| Frame size | The nominal size, which is also the size the glazing and boards are cut to | The finished outside size of the package | Check it matches the mat outside size you worked out. A frame sold at this size has a rabbet about an eighth of an inch larger |
| Rabbet | The depth of the step at the back, here five eighths of an inch | That the moulding has that depth, which is the dimension that decides whether the package fits | Compare it with your package depth. A conservation institute puts a complete package on paper at about 2 cm; five eighths of an inch is about 16 mm, which is adequate for a simple package and tight for a sealed one |
| Mat 1, with a code and a color name | The board. The color name says nothing; the code identifies the product | That board, in that ply | Ask what it is made of. Cotton rag, alpha cellulose, or mid grade; and whether it is lignin free. A preservation center warns that mats sold as archival and acid free may still contain lignin |
| Opening and borders | The window size and the three border widths, here with a weighted bottom | The window as cut | Check the opening against your sheet and your overlap. A window the same size as the sheet has nothing to hold it with |
| Glazing, as an abbreviation | Shop shorthand for a product line. "CC" here is conservation clear | That product | Ask for the percentage and the band. A maker's conservation grade claims up to 99 percent of 300 to 380 nanometres; the trade threshold for a "UV protection" label is 97 percent over that band. "UV glass" with no number commits nobody |
| Mount, as one word | How the piece is attached. This is the line that matters most and gets the fewest characters | Almost nothing, as written | Write it out. "Japanese paper hinges, wheat starch paste, to the back mat" or "non-adhesive corners". Ask explicitly whether any self-adhesive tape will touch the piece, and whether it will be attached to the back board rather than to the window mat |
| Fitting: std | How the back is closed: points or flexible tabs, dust cover, bumpers | Whatever that shop's standard is | Ask what standard means here. The trade specification's top level requires points or tacks and says flexible tabs are not acceptable, with pads at least 3 mm thick at the two lower back corners |
| Backing: blank | Usually silent. The board behind the package | Nothing | Write it in. Name the material: four-ply rag, twinwall plastic, acid-free corrugated. And specify no foam board in contact with the piece |
| Sealing: not on the form at all | Usually absent. Whether the package is sealed, and whether the frame is | Nothing | Write it in the notes. "Sealed package into the frame, frame not sealed", or "not sealed". A professional wiki advises against sealing the frame itself |
| Notes: blank | The only free space on the form | Whatever you put in it, once both parties have it | Use it. Backing, sealing, a dated label on the back, and anything a conservator said |
| Your signature | Agreement to the order as written | You, to the package described, not to the package you imagined | Read the form back before signing, and keep your copy. A dated specification is what makes a later conversation possible |
Shop terms you will meet
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Rabbet (rebate) | The step cut into the back of the moulding that holds the package. Its inside measurement is the rabbet size |
| Sight size | What you can see through the window: the window opening |
| Chop | Moulding cut to length with mitred corners, unjoined |
| Chop and join | Cut and assembled into a frame |
| Length | Moulding sold by the foot, for someone else to cut |
| Fillet (slip) | A narrow moulding set inside the window or the rabbet, as a decorative inner edge |
| Spacer | A strip that holds the glazing off the piece where there is no mat |
| Float | The piece shown with its own edges visible, on the backing board, rather than under a window |
| Close framing | Framed to the piece's own edge, with no visible border |
| Overmat | A window mat laid over the edges of the piece: the ordinary case |
| Sink mat | A built-up frame of filler strips the thickness of the object, with a window over it, for anything not flat |
| Undermount, back mat | The board the piece is attached to, behind the window |
| Fitting | Assembling the package into the frame and closing the back |
| Points | Flat metal tabs driven into the rabbet to hold the package in |
| Dust cover | Paper or spunbonded sheet across the back of the frame |
| Bumpers | Small pads at the lower back corners that hold the frame off the wall |
| Dry mount | Heat-bonding the piece to a board across its whole area. Permanent in practice |
| CC, Museum, Optium and similar | Glazing product names. Ask for the percentage and the wavelength band rather than the name |
The three things to write in
If you do nothing else with this page, write these three into the notes before you sign.
- The backing board, by material. Four-ply rag, twinwall plastic, or acid-free corrugated, and no foam board against the piece.
- Whether the package is sealed. Say also that the frame itself is not.
- A dated label on the back, naming the materials used. The trade specification asks for one, and in twenty years it will be the most useful thing in the frame.
This is an invented form and an annotation of it, not legal or contractual advice. A real order form varies by shop, and a shop whose form has fewer lines is not necessarily doing less: the questions in the framing plan are what tell you. This manual does not price framing and does not recommend a framer, a shop or a product.